Descriptive language of ‘Thai SELECT Premium’ restaurant menus: Appealing perception and collocations

Abstract

The study examined menu descriptions of Thai restaurants on how appealing the menus communicated with customers. Data were taken from restaurant websites with 'Thai SELECT Premium' certifications in the UK. 673 menu items were obtained and analyzed in five categories (nationalism, characteristics, sensory cues, branding, organic and healthy concerns). Sensory cues category was mostly used (68.95%) followed by characteristics (41.9%) and nationalism 17.53%). Six Thai dishes on CNN Travel World's 50 Best Foods list in 2011 were investigated on appealing perception of menu descriptions via online questionnaire. Of the six dishes, there were 51 menu descriptions, and 26 descriptions were rated as 'much appealing'. Nationalism (20/26) was mostly found followed by sensory cues (16/26). Menu data were also analyzed by AntConc to extract the high frequency keywords and collocation patterns. Mostly found noun keywords were seven (sauce, chicken, curry, chilli, rice, prawns, and beef) and mostly found adjective keywords were four (sweet, green, red, and spicy). The most frequent collocation patterns were 'noun + noun' and 'adjective + noun'. Respondents requested short and precise menu descriptions, information of food ingredients to help in decision making, and local Thai food names either in Thai words or English transliteration to create exotic experience and to imply the originality.

Intrinsic and Extrinsic Cue Words of Locally Grown Food Menu Items and Consumers’ Choice at Hyper-Local Restaurants: An Eye-Tracking Study

“…For example, previous studies in the literature showed that restaurants could use carbon labels (a form of extrinsic cue) to encourage consumers to purchase more environmentally friendly food options [20]. It may also be possible for restaurants to use certain cue words to effectively highlight a locally grown menu item since words could shape customers' knowledge and perceptions [21]. However, the list of cue words for locally grown food is exhaustive [9,[15][16][17][18][19].…”